Online Assessment of Applied Anatomy Knowledge: The Effect of Images on Medical Students' Performance

Sagoo, Mandeep Gill; Vorstenbosch, Marc A.T.M.; Bazira, Peter J.; Ellis, Harold; Kambouri, Maria; Owen, Charlie

Abstract

Anatomical examinations have been designed to assess topographical and/or applied knowledge of anatomy with or without the inclusion of visual resources such as cadaveric specimens or images, radiological images, and/or clinical photographs. Multimedia learning theories have advanced the understanding of how words and images are processed during learning. However, the evidence of the impact of including anatomical and radiological images within written assessments is sparse. This study investigates the impact of including images within clinically oriented single-best-answer questions on students' scores in a tailored online tool. Second-year medical students (n = 174) from six schools in the United Kingdom participated voluntarily in the examination, and 55 students provided free-text comments which were thematically analyzed. All questions were categorized as to whether their stimulus format was purely textual or included an associated image. The type (anatomical and radiological image) and deep structure of images (question referring to a bone or soft tissue on the image) were taken into consideration. Students scored significantly better on questions with images compared to questions without images (P 

Citation

Sagoo, M. G., Vorstenbosch, M. A., Bazira, P. J., Ellis, H., Kambouri, M., & Owen, C. (2021). Online Assessment of Applied Anatomy Knowledge: The Effect of Images on Medical Students' Performance. Anatomical Sciences Education, 14(3), 342-351. https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.1965

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 5, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 14, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-05
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 5, 2022
• Journal: Anatomical Sciences Education
• Print ISSN: 1935-9772
• Electronic ISSN: 1935-9780
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 342-351
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.1965
• Keywords: Gross anatomy education; Medical education; Undergraduate education; Single-best answers; Applied anatomy; Visual psychology; Anatomy imaging; Online assessment; Schemas
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3568027